The Infinite and the Divine Review - 5/5

 Black Library publications, through the history of the imprint, have had their ups and downs. Some authors are something of a laughing stock among the hobby community, others are rightly highly praised and often award winning authors whose works are classics of the universe. Yet one thing stands as a relatively common thread, nearly all of those works feature the perspective of the Warhammer 40,000 universe's human protagonists, and the greater bulk of those works feature the posterboy Space Marines in particular. The Space Wolves alone have dozens of publications including a graphic novel that just saw a color reprint, omnibus editions of the six novel Ragnar Blackmane series, novels and novellas about half a dozen major heroes of the chapter, and that is just one of many chapters with their own books, novellas and even several video games.

What we do not usually see in Black Library publications are the perspectives of the 40k universe's other various species. We do have several series of novels about the Eldar, which is nice, some short works from the perspective of the Orks and an upcoming novel that I am highly anticipating, one from the perspective of a Genestealer Cult and a few other random bits and pieces here and there. Yet these are overwhelmingly, much like miniatures and rules releases for xenos armies, relatively rare in comparison to the overwhelming bulk of Space Marine and Imperium stuff that comes out. So when I first laid eyes on the previews for the Infinite and the Divine, a novel revolving around a millennia spanning rivalry between two of the Necron faction's most notable characters, I was absolutely going to buy and read it and I am very, very glad that I did.

The Infinite and the Divine is a novel that features the perspectives of Trazyn the Infinite, the Overlord of Solemnace, and Orikan the Diviner, the greatest Chronomancer Cryptek in the galaxy. The one is a galactic magpie, a kleptomaniac of rare ability and obsession who has spent thousands of years hoarding everything from pipes and fossils to entire battlefields of living warriors and putting them on display in stasis field protected galleries in his Tomb World of Solemnace. Meanwhile Orikan is a master astrologer who divines and predicts the future by studying the movement of celestial bodies and the flow of stellar matter and energy. Both of these figures stand out not only in that they are xenos characters in a universe overflowing with stories of humanity, but in a universe of endless war they also stand out as unusual in that they are two intellectuals, not warriors. Scholars, philosophers, historians and divinators these two characters are far from the heroic warlords and sinister slayers that predominate in Black Library stories. Far from giving the story less conflict the galaxy and millennia spanning conflict between these two characters is full of twists and turns, exciting counters, plots and back-stabs and some of the most bizare and epic battle scenes I have ever read from a Black Library novel.

Rarely have I been so surprised by the twists and turns in a 40k story, never have I been so wrong-footed and shocked by the climax and conclusion of a 40k story. Robert Rath is a relatively recent addition to Black Library's stable of authors with mostly only a handful of short stories to his name, The Infinite and the Divine appears to be his premiere novel as a Black Library author but it is quite an impressive opening act. Rath masterfully weaves a narrative across vast stretches of time and space, covering a conflict between two strange and eccentric alien characters with sometimes inscrutable motivations and methods as they compete with each other in a story that is, ultimately, something of a treasure hunt. Yet that simplistic plot does not sufficiently capture the evolving and repeatedly shifting goals and objectives of the two characters nor prepare a reader for how the story will shake out.

Honestly I really don't want to go into any more detail about the story or this book as I do not want to ruin it for anyone, all I can do is urge anyone interested in the Necrons, the 40k Universe or even just an interesting science fiction story to pick up this book and give it a read, it will be well worth your time.

I easily rate The Infinite and the Divine a 5 out of 5, it is a fantastic novel and was a very enjoyable read!